The year 1418, is marked as the year of discovery of the Island of Porto Santo. In that year Portuguese vessels, lead by two captains of Prince Henry the Navigator, João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, deviated from its planned route following the African coast due to a heavy storm. The captains and their crew were saved by a small island which they then named it Porto Santo (Holy Harbor).
A year later, in 1419, they went back to discover another island near Porto Santo. The island was then named Madeira (Wood), due to the abundance of this raw material.
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João Gonçalves Zarco, Bartolomeu Perestrelo and Tristão Vaz Teixeira were the three navigators and explorers who arrived and stayed here on the islands. Each got his own captaincy on the archipelago of Madeira. Porto Santo was assigned to Bartolomeu Perestrelo, Machico to Tristão Vaz Teixeira, and Funchal to Gonçalves Zarco, but this only occurred some years later, in 1440, after the Cycle of Settlement, in 1425, by order of king D. João I.
Madeira Ancient Map by F. de Wit – Memories of Portugal
The three chief captains and their families began the settlement of Madeira and Porto Santo islands. It was a process defined by stages involving people from all over the Portuguese kingdom. From the Algarve some of the main settlers set out to the archipelago, with the important task of implementing a landlord system on the island. Also worth to mention that the settlers who came from the north of Portugal, namely from the region of Entre Douro and Minho, they were the ones who dedicated themselves in the organization of the agricultural area.
From the Algarve, Tavira, Lagos, Silves, Aljezur and Sagres, many engaged in this movement of settlement towards the new Islands. Servants, squires, knights and noblemen were recognized as the ones who secured the start of the settlement. It then quickly extended geographically to other areas, such as Santa Cruz, Câmara de Lobos, Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol and Calheta.
For more about the history of Madeira we recommend to visit the Wikipedia – History of Madeira
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